A FERN STORY

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 86, 2 July 1927, Page 27

A FERN STORY

(Written for THE SUN by Helen Griffiths.) Once upon a time, O Best Beloved, there lived a beautiful maiden named Rosamund. She dwelt in a tiny cottage with her mother, and was dearly loved by the villagers on account of her sweet and gentle disposition. She had grave innocent eyes—a delicate mouth shaped like a Cupid’s bow, and long golden hair that reached to her knees and which she wore braided in a heavy shining coil. Rosamund was beloved by Carl, the handsomest and bravest youth in the village, and together they often roamed hand in hand in the forest, making plans for their future happiness, or collecting the rare wild ferns which grew in shady nooks. Near by was a sombre castle where dwelt a wicked baron, whom everyone feared and disliked, and one day while riding in the forest with three of his cruel retainers, he spied Rosamund and her lover, and noting the girl’s rare and delicate beauty, he determined to carry her off. This he did, while poor Carl fought bravely to save her, but was overpowered, sorely beaten, - and left to mourn his lost love’s fate. Next evening as Rosamund sat pale and sad by the moon-lit window of the old castle where she was now a prisoner, a tiny fairy dressed in green fluttered into the room. “Listen,” he said, “I am King of the Fern Fairies, and because we all love you, X have come to save you. The wall is too high for a mortal to scale unless he possesses a ladder of gold. Give me your beautiful hair and I shall make one, and Carl will rescue you.” Gladly Rosamund cut off her beautiful golden plait, and the fairy speedily wove a shining ladder, so long that it reached the ground, and with the help of her lover and the kind Fern Fairy she made her escape, and never again did she venture too far into the forest. The next evening all the Fern Fairies sat in a quiet ring while their King told them his story and showed the golden ladder. The dear little Fern Fairies begged that it might be broken and distributed among them, for they all loved the gentle girl. The King consented, so each little fairy planted his tress of golden hair, and soon in different parts of the forest appeared a rare and delicate new Fern, which is known to this day by the name of “Maidenhair.”